Aquilegia Magazine of the Colorado Native Plant Society Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020

Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 www.CoNPS.org 1

James’s alumroot, Telesonix jamesii (Saxifragaceae). James’s alumroot—or brookfoam—was first collected by Edwin James on Pikes Peak in 1820. It is usually found in the cracks of granite outcrops at 8,700-13,050 ft elevation, although the plant can also be found on scree slopes. While it seems to prefer east and north exposures on these surfaces, it can be found growing in full sun to full shade and in variable levels of moisture. Most populations are found on Pikes Peak granite, but there are a few outlier populations in Rocky Mountain National Park, which are on Precambrian gneiss and schist. T. jamesii is 60-180 mm tall, with glandular-pubescent stems and leaves. Alumroots (Heuchera spp.) are often found nearby Telesonix. Be careful not to confuse the plants when they are not in bloom. Telesonix heucheriformis, which has a wider distribution, was once considered a variety of T. jamesii, but is now categorized as its own species. The name Telesonix is derived from Greek; “tele” translates as “perfect” and “onyx” translates as “claws.” T. jamesii has been reported to be used medicinally by the Cheyenne. KA

Map adapted from Ackerfield, J. Flora of Colorado, (2018), p. 757.

Botanicum absurdum by Rob Pudim PHOTO CREDITS: James’s alumroot, Telesonix jamesii; FRONT COVER © Mike Kintgen; PAGE 2 © Kelly Ambler, Pikes Peak region, July 13, 2020. BACK COVER: © Mo Ewing, Aquilegia coerulea, Crested Butte, and Oenothera sp. and others, Pawnee Buttes. Aquilegia uses Jennifer Ackerfield’s Flora of Colorado (2018, second printing) as its preferred guide to plant naming conventions. Readers may also want to familiarize themselves with other guides such as Colorado Flora, Eastern and Western editions, by William A. Weber and Ronald C. Wittmann (2012), as well as The Biota of North America Program online guide to North American Vascular © Rob Pudim Flora (http://www.bonap.org/), and other resources.

2 www.CoNPS.org Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 Aquilegia: Magazine of the Colorado Native Plant Society Dedicated to furthering the knowledge, appreciation, and conservation of native plants and habitats of Colorado through education, stewardship, and advocacy Inside this Issue 2020 44TH Annual CoNPS Conference 17TH Annual Colorado Rare Plant Symposium: “Globally Imperiled Plants Found on the Front Range and Central Rockies” ...... 4 Member Input Needed ...... 5 44TH Annual CoNPS Conference: “Peaks to Prairies—Plants in the Land of Extremes” ...... 6 Speakers and Presentations ...... 6 Conference Schedule ...... 9 Silent Auction and Photo Contest ...... 10 Registration ...... 11

Featured Stories Celebrating the Bicentennial of Stephen H. Long’s Expedition. Part 3 of 4: The Ascent of Pikes Peak and Noteworthy Species Found BY MIKE KINTGEN AND JEN TOEWS ...... 12

Diné Bih Naniseh Bah Haneeh: Navajo Ethnobotanical Teachings BY ARNOLD CLIFFORD ...... 16

Columns Basic Botany: All Life Depends on Plants BY DERYN DAVIDSON ...... 20 Conservation Corner: Reintroduction of Wolves to Colorado: Could This Affect Our Native Plant Communities? BY JOHN EMERICK ...... 21 Poetry: Basal Rosettes BY ARTHUR CLIFFORD ...... 23 Garden Natives: Aspen for the Landscape BY JIM BORLAND ...... 24 Tips from the Pros: Still Seeing Mulch Years Later? Plant More BY BENJAMIN VOGT ...... 25

News, Events, and Announcements Chapter Events ...... 26 CoNPS Webinars ...... 27 In Memoriam: Stanley Smookler ...... 28 Member Profile: Steve Olson BY SETH BOLSTER ...... 29

Can You ID these Flowers? BY ANNA WILSON ...... 31

BOARD OF DIRECTORS AQUILEGIA: Magazine of the OPERATING COMMITTEE: Ginger Baer, [email protected]; Deryn Davidson, [email protected]; Ann Grant, Colorado Native Plant Society [email protected]; Irene Weber, [email protected]; Secretary: Amy Yarger, [email protected]; Treasurer: Mo Ewing, Aquilegia Vol. 44 No.3 Summer 2020 [email protected] ISSN 2161-7317 (Online) - ISSN 2162- 0865 (Print) Copyright CoNPS © 2020 CHAPTER PRESIDENTS: Boulder: Patricia Butler, Lynn Riedel, Pam Sherman, Anna Theodorakos, Noonie Yaron, Members receive at least four regular [email protected]; Metro-Denver: Lenore Mitchell, [email protected]; Northern: Ann Grant on behalf of chapter issues per year (Spring, Summer, Fall, leadership team, [email protected]; Plateau: Susan Carter, [email protected], Jim Pisarowicz, [email protected], Winter). At times, issues may be David Varner, [email protected]; Southeast: Maggie Gaddis, [email protected]; Southwest: Anthony Culpepper, combined. All contributions are subject [email protected], Amanda Kuenzi, [email protected], Michael Remke, [email protected] to editing for brevity, grammar, and DIRECTORS-AT-LARGE: Christina Alba, [email protected]; Deryn Davidson, [email protected]; Steve consistency, with final approval of Olson, [email protected]; Irene Weber, [email protected]; Anna Wilson, [email protected]; Tom Zeiner, substantive changes by the author. Articles from Aquilegia may be used by OTHER CONTACTS other native plant societies or non-profit COMMITTEE CHAIRS: Conservation: Mo Ewing, [email protected]; Education & Outreach: David Julie, [email protected]; groups if fully cited to the author and Field Studies: Steve Olson, [email protected], Lara Duran, [email protected]; Finance: Mo Ewing; Horticulture: Ann Grant, attributed to Aquilegia. [email protected]; Media: Deryn Davidson, [email protected], Lenore Mitchell, [email protected], Steve Olson, Managing Editor: Mary Menz, [email protected]; Research Grants: Stephen Stern, [email protected]; Restoration: Haley Stratton, [email protected] [email protected]; Scholarships: Cecily Mui, [email protected] Associate/Design Editor: Kelly Ambler, SOCIAL MEDIA: E-News Editor: Linda Smith, [email protected]; Facebook: Denise Wilson, [email protected]; Jen [email protected] Bousselot, [email protected]; Deryn Davidson, [email protected]; Carol English, [email protected]; Assistant Editor: Nan Daniels Anna Wilson, [email protected]; Denise Wilson; Tom Zeiner, [email protected]. Twitter and Instagram: Jen Bousselot, Cartoonist: Rob Pudim Denise Wilson; Webmaster: Mo Ewing, [email protected] Proofreaders: Suzanne Dingwell, Cathi Schramm, Linda Smith, John Vickery CoNPS PAID STAFF: Linda Smith, administrative coordinator, [email protected], 970-663-4085; Denise Wilson, marketing & events coordinator, [email protected]; Kathleen Okon, workshop coordinator, [email protected]

Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 www.CoNPS.org 3 17TH Annual Colorado Rare Plant Symposium “Globally Imperiled Plants Found on the Front Range and Central Rockies” Friday September 18 site. Many of the new C-values were evaluated using 8:30 AM to 2:30 PM habitat quality information collected from nearly 3,000 wetland and riparian plot locations (see Registration is $10 per person at https://conps.org. https://cnhp.colostate.edu/cwic/tools/plot-database/). The Colorado Rare Plant Symposium is held each fall in conjunction with the Colorado Native Plant Society’s At the 2020 meeting, Pamela annual conference. Hosted by the Colorado Natural Smith of CNHP will present the Heritage Program, the symposium is an annual new C-values calculated for the meeting to address current status and conservation 20% of the flora that did not have needs of rare plants in Colorado. values. She will also discuss how the new online calculator works This year the symposium is going virtual and consists and how the values were of three short sessions. Topics will include: evaluated for the update. In  A progress report on the conservation actions addition, through this effort a needed for the Tier 1 and Tier 2 plant species number of sources of taxonomic information have included in the 2015 State Wildlife Action Plan; been cross-walked for the entire Colorado plant list  An update to the Floristic Quality Assessment including the USDA PLANTS database, Weber and revision; and Wittmann (2012), and Ackerfield (2015).  A photo review of the rare plants found on the Front In the afternoon session, CNHP botanists will provide Range and Central Rockies in Colorado. a photo review of the rare plants of the Front Range The 2015 State Wildlife Action Plan included plants for and Central Rockies in Colorado. This will include the first time and identifies conservation needs and several species of Aletes, Potentilla, Penstemon, and actions for 120 of Colorado’s rarest plant species local favorite Physaria bellii. including federally-listed species such as Astragalus CNHP tracks the location and condition of over 500 osterhoutii, and endemic species imperiled plants. Tracking and monitoring efforts guide like Aliciella sedifolia. Jessica effective management and protection of those species Smith of CNHP will provide a and thereby prevent extinctions or statewide review of the conservation extirpations of Colorado’s native plant species. ► needs of these species and the actions that have been taken to date to meet those needs. The Rare Plant Addendum to the SWAP can be viewed at https://cpw.state.co.us/ aboutus/Pages/StateWildlifeActionPlan.aspx In 2007, CNHP published Colorado’s initial FQA report that included Coefficient of Conservation or C-values for the Colorado flora for 80% of the known taxa at that time (Rocchio et al. 2007 https://cnhp.colostate.edu /download/documents/2007/FQAFinalReport.pdf). However, since 2007 there have been numerous taxonomic changes to the Colorado flora—with new species added to the flora, and other species dropped. During 2019 and 2020, CNHP updated the C-values for the 20% of the flora that did not yet have values. C-values are assigned to each plant taxa based on its affinity for natural habitats (for example, those not affected by human disturbance). Land managers can apply the C-values to a plant list for an area, which can then be used to help quantify the quality of that Aliciella sedifolia (stonecrop gilia). © Connie Colter

4 www.CoNPS.org Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 for rare plants as well as noxious weeds. The CNHP team has active members on the Colorado Rare Plant Technical Committee, the Colorado Weed Advisory Committee, the Colorado Native Plant Society, and NatureServe. Colorado Natural Heritage Program staff works closely with botanists and land managers across Colorado to develop the state’s most comprehensive and accurate dataset of Colorado’s rare flora. Annual presentations and species-specific meeting notes are available for past years at https://cnhp.colostate.edu/projects/colorado-rare- plant-symposia/ View the Colorado rare plant guide at https://chnp.colostate.edu/library/field-guides Past presentations and species-specific meeting notes are available on the CNHP website for 2004-2019. View or download copies of past symposia presentations at https://cnhp.colostate.edu/projects Physaria bellii (Front Range or Bell’s twinpod). /colorado-rare-plant-symposia/ or view the Colorado © Georgia Doyle rare plant guide here: https://cnhp.colostate.edu/ library/field-guides/ ◄ CNHP conducts field surveys for rare native plants; designs and implements monitoring studies; produces Contact Jill Handwerk for more information at models, best management practices, and (970)491-5857 or [email protected] ֍ conservation strategies; and develops detailed maps

Member Input Needed for Virtual Social Peaks to Prairies: CoNPS Members in the Field! By Lenore Mitchell Share you summer activities! Eventually we’ll be able to hike together again, attend Here is the agenda for the Virtual Social on Friday, in-person meetings and workshops, and give and September 18. The following is included with your receive hugs. In the meantime, we can still share. paid conference registration: Whatever you’re doing this summer, wherever you are  Welcome to the conference and announcements; from—Durango to Denver, La Junta to Grand  Narrated presentation about a July 2020 hike to Junction—if it involves native plants, tell us about it! Pikes Peak to commemorate the 1820 Long’s Whether you’re doing research, sleuthing around for Expedition to Colorado; rare plants, taking fun hikes to worship the blooms, or working away at native plant garden projects, please  Narrated presentation of slide show with photo snap a few pics and jot down a few notes. contest finalists and first place winners;  Narrated presentation of slide show depicting state- Send a few photos and your brief notes to Tom wide member projects, including research, hikes, Schweich ([email protected]) no later than and gardening related to native plants; and August 25 so we can include you and your activities in the member slide show during the virtual social at this  Brief narrated slide show to introduce key people year’s annual conference. Include a photo of yourself, who keep CoNPS running, including board preferably in the midst of your activity. members, chapter presidents, and others.

Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 www.CoNPS.org 5 44TH Annual CoNPS Conference “Peaks to Prairies—Plants in the Land of Extremes”

Friday through Sunday, September 18-20 Four sessions over three days making the best of a challenging situation. We give a Welcome to the 2020 Annual CoNPS Conference, very special note of gratitude to each of our speakers. hosted by the Metro-Denver Chapter, which now has 420 members. State-wide membership totals more State-wide leadership of CoNPS begins with the than 1100 members in six chapters and includes operating committee comprised of: Ginger Baer, everyone from professional botanists to beginning Deryn Davidson, Mo Ewing, Ann Grant, Irene Weber plant enthusiasts. and Amy Yarger. In addition to the OC, CoNPS board of directors includes chapter presidents and members- This year’s Annual Conference is brought to you at-large. CoNPS staff includes Linda Smith, who in a webinar format that allows participants to join keeps us all organized as administrative coordinator, in from the comfort of their own homes. Denise Wilson as marketing and events coordinator, We look forward to having as many as 500 native plant and Kathy Okon as the workshop coordinator. lovers gathering virtually to hear and watch this year’s Volunteers from all over the state contribute in various expert speakers. ways to CoNPS success and new volunteers are Daily schedules contain ample break times and a always welcome. lengthy lunch time on Saturday. In addition, recordings Thanks to this year’s conference committee members: of select presentations may be available for viewing Kelly Ambler, Courtney Cowgill, Sue Dingwell, Mo Ewing, by registered participants for a limited time after the Lenore Mitchell, Tom Schweich, Bruce Tohill, John conference—in case you either missed a presentation Vickery, and Denise Wilson. Special thanks to or wish to repeat it. Audience questions may be Aquilegia managing editor Mary Menz and submitted via chat boxes during live presentations. associate/design editor Kelly Ambler. Thanks not only to all conference committee members Registration whose efforts have made this year’s conference See page 11 for registration information. Registrants possible, but also to the many other volunteers who’ve will receive an email with details for accessing all offered their assistance. Kudos to everyone for webinar events. There will be a instructional materials available for those unfamiliar with webinar formats. Speakers and Presentations (arranged in order of presentations)

Heidi Steltzer mountain plants provide for people to inform why we “The richness of plants should conserve these incredible species. They are in the mountains resilient, and this contributes resilience to each of us. benefits people” Heidi Steltzer, PhD, is professor of environment and Mountain regions are home sustainability at Fort Lewis College in Durango. Heidi to 25% of the earth’s is a mountain scientist, explorer, and science storyteller. biodiversity, provide water She has spent 25 years conducting field studies in to billions of people, and remote regions of Colorado, Alaska, Greenland, and sustain us by providing China to understand how mountain ecosystems are refuge. The Colorado unique and valued regions of our world. She is a lead mountains are a unique author on high mountain areas in a recent place for plant life, and one that is changing quickly intergovernmental panel on climate change report and due to the warming of our planet and a changing snow has testified before US Congress on climate change. pack. Heidi will provide insights into the benefits that Find her on social media @heidimountains ►

6 www.CoNPS.org Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 Mike Kintgen Architecture at Colorado State University. Jen “Circumborial Alpine completed her doctorate research studying green roof Plants and species selection, including Colorado native plants, at Colorado State University in 2010. Jen also does Biogeography” research ensuring that Colorado native plants are Mike will share some of the marketable in the green industry. She is a previous circumboreal element in our marketing and events coordinator for CoNPS and is flora—species found both in co-author of the CoNPS-published 3rd edition of Colorado and in places as Common Southwestern Native Plants. diverse as Newfoundland, Kamchatka, Norway, Jennifer Ackerfield Iceland, and Switzerland. Colorado's flora share “Thistle Be Fun: diverse links with mountainous and high latitude Untangling Taxonomy regions around the world. Mike will show how and New Species Colorado flora is linked to that of Eurasia and South Discoveries” America. He will also dip into the Asiatic element in Have you ever wondered Colorado's high elevation flora, as well as links with what defines a species, or the flora in places as far away as Patagonia. Lastly, he will brush on the rich, endemic North American how new species are discovered and named? influence on our flora which includes genera such as Well, wonder no longer! Join Jennifer as she talks Penstemon, Eriogonum, Calochortus, and Heuchera. about the process of defining a species and all the Mike Kintgen is the curator of alpine collections at lines of evidence that scientists use to inform this Denver Botanic Gardens, where he has been a formal decision. After laying the groundwork for how species part of the staff since 2004. He has played an informal are named, she will discuss an exciting development role since 1992, having started as a volunteer at age in her alpine thistle research. eleven. His botanical travels have taken him to most Many members of CoNPS participated in Team of Western Europe, European Russia, Morocco, and Thistle, a citizen science initiative in which Jennifer Argentine Patagonia. asked members to “get high on alpine thistles” with her. Through this initiative, approximately 50 collections of alpine thistle were made and observations recorded Jennifer Bousselot on iNaturalist. She used several of these collections “Colorado Native Plant and observations in her research and discovered an Availability in the Green unnamed species hidden right under our noses! This Industry” exciting discovery also highlights the need and Native plant aficionados importance of field studies, iNaturalist observations, often struggle to find archives, and natural history collections. Colorado native plants Jennifer Ackerfield, PhD, is the head curator of natural available in the green history collections at Denver Botanic Gardens. She industry. Often that is due to was previously a curator at the Colorado State two things: lack of demand University herbarium and also taught plant so most producers do not grow them, and the fact that identification at CSU. Most notably, she is the author many Colorado native plants are not as attractive in of the Flora of Colorado. She has been studying the containers so most gardeners don't buy them. flora of Colorado for 25 years and has traveled Because of this, Jen and others have acquired USDA extensively across the state documenting its rich funding and have begun plant finishing protocol floristic diversity. She received her master’s in botany research on several of the species in Plant Select® with a concentration in taxonomy and systematics in that are native to Colorado. Jen will talk about one of 2001 and is currently working on her PhD in botany, her greatest passions—how to ensure that our studying the taxonomy and evolution of the genus beloved Colorado native plants become more Cirsium (thistles) in North America. Jennifer has available in the green industry. worked with the Colorado Native Plant Society, Jennifer Bousselot, PhD, is an assistant professor in Colorado Natural Heritage Program, US Forest the department of horticulture and landscape Service, Colorado BLM, Rocky Mountain National Park, and Mesa Verde National Park. ►

Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 www.CoNPS.org 7 ◄ Shannon Murphy provide some insights from 22 years of balancing “Light Pollution Affects through, plunging in, and rescuing himself from a Invasive & Native Plant variety of fens across Colorado. Traits Important to Steve Yarbrough is a senior ecologist and professional Plant Competition & wetland scientist working for Tetra Tech, Inc., in Herbivorous Insects” Golden, Colorado. He has enjoyed a 36-year career in the environmental consulting field. His job assignments Many exotic invasive typically involve siting studies for renewable energy species have traits that projects, assessing impacts, obtaining required allow them to outcompete permits, and monitoring the recovery of damaged native species when there resources, including wetlands and native prairie. He have been changes in the environment relative to has previously served on the CoNPS board of conditions under which the native plants have directors and served stints as field trip coordinator and evolved. However, invasions in urban settings have workshop coordinator for the society. He is currently a been insufficiently studied, including exploring the member of the conservation committee. impacts of the uniquely urban stressors of streetlights.

Plant physiology and phenology are impacted by Artificial-Light-at-Night, but no studies have yet Tim Seastedt examined if light pollution differentially affects native “Climate Change versus invasive plant species. We tested the Effects on Herbaceous hypothesis that ALAN affects plant traits important to Plant Community plant fitness and susceptibility to herbivory and found that these effects differ between some invasive and Composition in the native grass species. As urbanization increases, its Colorado Front Range” role in understanding invasion biology becomes more The high elevation important, especially when an urban disturbance such ecosystems of the Colorado as ALAN benefits the growth of invasive species. Front Range have been Dr. Shannon Murphy is associate professor of biology under study by CU at the University of Denver. She graduated from the researchers for 70 years, a time period sufficient to University of Colorado at Boulder in ecology and study impacts of climatic changes. Climate and evolutionary biology. She received her PhD in ecology atmospheric inputs are the dominant change factors of and evolutionary biology from Cornell University and high elevation ecosystems, but these drivers influence completed two post doctorates, one at the University a complex terrain that is impacted unevenly by local of Maryland in entomology and the other at the growing season length, moisture, and nutrient George Washington University in biology. limitations. These differential outcomes produce differential changes in vegetation composition across Steve Yarbrough the landscape that benefit components of the alpine “Fen Ecosystems of flora while penalizing others. Willow invasions into Colorado” herbaceous areas have, perhaps, been the most dominant change to date. The entire alpine zone is Finns? Or Fins? No....Fens! undergoing elevation changes, but these changes are Fens are groundwater-fed, controlled by the interaction of climate changes with peat-forming wetland local abiotic and biotic factors. ecosystems. Where exactly are they hiding out and why Tim Seastedt is professor emeritus for the department the heck are they so of ecology and evolutionary biology and is a fellow, interesting for native plant enthusiasts? Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder. Seastedt spent a decade studying Fens contain a great number of Colorado rare plant grasslands in Kansas prior to coming to Colorado in species and even a few globally rare species. They 1990. He became the principal investigator of the occur in a variety of landscapes and boast some Niwot Ridge long-term ecological research program in interesting chemistries. What conservation measures 1992 and has continued studies to date on plant and and strategies are being used with fens and what soil interactions in herbaceous ecosystems on both at difference will it make in the long run? Steve will the top and bottom of the Front Range. ֍

8 www.CoNPS.org Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 “Peaks to Prairies—Plants in the Land of Extremes” Conference Schedule

Friday Virtual Social Event: Highlights from 2020

Time Description Speaker Introduction Denise Wilson Pikes Peak commemorative hike Kelly Ambler 6:30 PM Photo contest winners Bruce Tohill to Break 9:00 PM Peaks to Prairies: CoNPS Members in the Field Tom Schweich Break Key people who keep CoNPS running Moderator(s)

Session 1: Saturday morning Time Description Speaker 8:30 AM Join webinar Moderator(s) 9:00 AM Introductions, instructions Moderator(s) 9:10 AM The Richness of Plants in the Mountains Benefits People Heidi Steltzer 9:55 AM Break 10:05 AM Circumboreal Alpine Plants and Biogeography Mike Kintgen 10:55 AM Break 11:10 AM Colorado Native Plant Availability in the Green Industry Jennifer Bousselot 11:55 AM Session closing and midday break Moderator(s)

Session 2: Saturday afternoon Time Description Speaker 1:30 PM Announcements, other Moderator(s) 1:40 PM Thistle be Fun: New Species Discoveries Jennifer Ackerfield 2:25 PM Break 2:35 PM Light Pollution Affects Invasive & Native Plant Traits Important to Shannon Murphy Plant Competition & Herbivorous Insects 3:20 PM Session closing and day-end Moderator(s)

Session 3: Sunday afternoon Time Description Speaker 1:00 PM Getting started, other Moderator(s) 1:10 PM Fen Ecosystems of Colorado Steve Yarbrough 1:55 PM Break 2:10 PM Climate Change Effects on Herbaceous Plant Community Tim Seastedt Composition in the Colorado Front Range 2:55 PM Conference closing Moderator(s)

Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 www.CoNPS.org 9 Annual Silent Auction Benefits CoNPS Activities

The Annual Conference traditionally hosts a silent  Water bottles; auction to benefit CoNPS. This year the auction will be  Lightly used backpacks, items to fill a backpack, online! Proceeds support the Colorado Native Plant other outdoor gear; Society’s wide-ranging projects including education,  An unopened bottle of wine or liquor; conservation, native plant gardening, botanical and  SMALL garden tools, art, statuary, wind chimes in horticultural publications, and activities. “like new” condition;  Gift cards; Denise Wilson and the silent auction committee seek  Any unused SMALL gift you’ve received and would your donations for this event. We are accepting only like to find a home for; and small, mailable, above $20 value items, and  Money that the committee can use to make a great requesting that donors hang on to them and mail them gift basket. to the winning bidder afterward. Donors can bill CoNPS for shipping cost reimbursement, but we also We are asking donors who are able to donate their appreciate the donation of your time and shipping time and shipping cost to hang onto the item until cost, if you are able to do so. To submit an item, the end of the auction, and then mail it to the email to Denise 1) 2-3 good quality photos showing winning bidder for us. different angles (one picture of the cover is good for a If you or your business are interested in donating an book), 2) a short description, 3) and the value. item for the silent auction, please contact Denise at Denise suggests donations might include— [email protected] Likewise, if you'd like  Sample of a member artist’s painting, photography, to volunteer to help with the silent auction, contact or other work; flat, small and no glass; Denise.  Greeting cards, stationary, markers, pens, stickers, Auction preview will be available September 1-11. and so on; Bidding on silent auction items will be open  Tee shirts, hats, gloves, raingear, gaiters, UPF September 12-20. clothing, technical fabric clothing; Annual Photo Contest—Call for Entries

Have you taken some spectacular photos of native contest August 1-31. Photos will be displayed on the plants this summer or in years past? If so, consider CoNPS website and judged by CoNPS members prior entering the CoNPS annual photo contest. Photos may to the conference (September 1-15). Winners will be only be submitted electronically with a completed entry announced on September 18 during the Friday night form. You must be a CoNPS member to participate. social. Entries can be made in any of five categories Entries must be a single work of original material including: taken by the contest entrant. No more than one photo  Colorado Native Plant Landscapes; per category may be submitted. Photos may be from  Colorado Native Plants; previous years (for example, you may submit a photo  Artistic (of Colorado Native Plants or Native Plant that you took in 2013). A $50 prize will be awarded to Landscaping; the first place winner of each category.  Colorado Native Plants & Wildlife (including native Contest is open to CoNPS members only. Please see insects/pollinators); and the CoNPS website for entry forms:  Native Plant Gardens. https://conps.org/xxyyzz-2020-photo-contest/ Contest rules and agreements are posted on the Questions? Contact Bruce Tohill at [email protected] CoNPS website. Photos may be submitted to the

Reporters Needed for the Annual Conference

Are you willing to write a summary of one or two of the please contact Mary Menz ([email protected]) presentations from the Annual Conference? If so, or Kelly Ambler ([email protected])

10 www.CoNPS.org Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 Registration

Registration is available online at http://conps.org. Please log in if you are a CoNPS member, then proceed to the Calendar of Events to register. Online registration ends September 15. If registering by mail, please complete the following registration form for each person attending and submit by September 7.

Mail registration form and payment to: CoNPS, c/o Linda Smith, 4057 Cottonwood Dr., Loveland, CO 80538

Name (first, last) ______Phone ______Email ______Mailing address ______The registration fees include attendance to the Annual Conference webinars on Saturday and Sunday, September 19 and 20 plus the Friday night virtual social on September 18. A separate fee is charged for attending the Rare Plant Symposium. An optional practice webinar is also included in the registration. Member registration*

The 17TH Annual Rare Plant Symposium @ $10 The 44TH Annual Conference @ $30 Optional donation Membership Renewal (if necessary) Individual @ $25 Family/Dual @ $35 Senior or Student @ $17 Plant Lover @ $50 Supporting @ $100 Patron @ $250 Benefactor @ $500 Lifetime @ $800 Aquilegia print subscription @ $20/year

Total enclosed $

Non-member registration. Consider becoming a member! See page 26.

The 17TH Annual Rare Plant Symposium @ $10 The 44TH Annual Conference @ $35 Optional donation

Total enclosed $

* A limited number of scholarships are available. See CoNPS.org for details.

The Annual Conference Committee appreciates all businesses and individuals who have contributed gift certificates or merchandise to our online auction to help defray cost of this year’s event. Business logos are displayed online at CoNPS.org and will be displayed in Aquilegia beginning Fall, 2020.

Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 www.CoNPS.org 11 Featured Story Celebrating the Bicentennial of Stephen H. Long’s Expedition Part 3 of 4: The Ascent of Pikes Peak and Noteworthy Species Found By Mike Kintgen and Jen Toews for two men to accompany James to the summit, while This is the third in a series of four articles about the the other two would attend to the horses at a camp on Long Expedition to the Rocky Mountains. Boiling Springs near present-day Manitou Springs. On July 14, 1820, Edwin James and two other men Initially, Lieutenant Swift and his guide Bijou were also trudged slowly up what would later be named Pikes in the party. Their duty was to obtain observations for Peak. Without today’s well-maintained trail system, measuring the height of the peak. Having completed the ascent would have been especially grueling. It this task, they returned to base camp on Fountain Creek would first have been a long bushwhack through the where Stephen Long and the rest of the party waited. forest and then a tedious scramble through the talus. Twenty-five miles from Long’s base camp and higher It is also easy to imagine that James, the first up Fountain Creek, James and the others set up a American botanist of European descent to see the horse camp. Around 3:00 PM and after breaking for alpine tundra of Colorado, would have been distracted lunch and a quick rest, James, Verplank, and Wilson by the flora. Indeed, in his diary and Account James left the horsemen behind and pressed toward the lists many species he encountered on this excursion, summit. They traveled all of two miles before setting from the charismatic sky-blue alpine forget-me-not up a precarious camp for the night (their camp would (Eritrichium nanum var. elongatum) to the have been on Ruxton Creek). Apparently, “[b]ecause circumboreal mountain dryad (Dryas octopetala) to the of the steep sides of the ravine, the men placed a pole narrowly endemic James’s alumroot (Telesonix on the ground between two trees; by laying their beds jamesii), which Torrey would later describe. on the uphill side, they were thus prevented from By 2:00 PM that day, the trio was so exhausted that rolling down into the creek during the night.” Before they stopped for food and rest at a stream about one falling asleep, James wrote a somewhat discouraged mile above tree line. That is when they realized that if note in his diary: “[W]e laid down to rest for the night, they continued, it would be impossible to return to having found few plants or anything else to reward us camp by nightfall where they had stashed their food for our toils.” and shelter. However, the prospect of summiting the On the 14th, James and his two companions hung mountain was irresistible and they hiked on. their camping supplies and food in a tree near their Just one day prior, James and four others had begun campsite. They planned to return before nightfall. By their ascent of the Pikes Peak massif. The plan was daybreak they were once again bound for the ►

Eritrichium nanum var. elongatum (alpine forget-me- Dryas octopetala (mountain dryad). not). © Jen Toews © Mike Kintgen

12 www.CoNPS.org Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 ◄ summit. Interestingly, the route they took up the of low but brilliantly flowering alpine plants. Most of mountain is nearly the same as the route of the Pikes these have either matted procumbent stems, or such Peak Cog Railway today. as including the flower, rarely rise more than an inch in height. In many of them, the flower is the most At around 4:00 PM, James, Verplank, and Wilson conspicuous and the largest part of the plant, and in reached the 14,115 ft. summit of what would become all, the coloring is astonishingly brilliant.… known as America’s mountain. They were the first Americans of European descent to have done so. It …We met, as we proceeded, such numbers of unknown must be mentioned that Native Americans had and interesting plants, as to occasion much delay in undoubtedly already climbed the mountain during their collecting, and were under the disagreeable necessity long history in the region. of passing by numbers which we saw in situations difficult of access. As we approached the summit, these Meanwhile, back at base camp, Major Long and became less frequent and at length ceased entirely.” Lieutenant Swift had mathematically calculated the height of the mountain to be 11,507.5 feet. They It was late in the day, and after spending less than an arrived at this figure because they had calculated the hour on the summit, James and his party began their elevation at their base camp along Fountain Creek to long descent. By sunset they reached timber line. be 3,000 feet. They surmised that Pikes Peak was Realizing they had lost the route back to their camp, another 8,507.5 feet above them. In reality, their base they had no other choice but to spend the night with camp was closer to 5,600 feet in elevation. just a campfire and no food. The short time James and the others spent on the At first light on July 15, James and his companions summit was both literally and metaphorically the high were on the move back to the previous camp of July point of the Long Expedition of 1820. The alpine was 13. Three hours later, as they neared their camp, they not what James expected. Instead of a barren were greeted with a dense column of smoke. wasteland, the men were greeted by a multitude of Apparently, they had failed to completely extinguish dwarf alpine plant species with showy, colorful flowers their campfire. The fire had burned their blankets, in full bloom. A quote from James sums up his clothes, and most of their provisions. They were able, surprise and delight with this biome: however, to salvage some fragments of charred “...a region of astonishing beauty, and of great interest buffalo meat for breakfast. Curiously, no other mention on account of its productions; the intervals of soil are was made of what became of the fire. (Ironically, the sometimes extensive, and are covered with a carpet Pikes Peak region has been the site of two of the ►

Clockwise, from upper left. All photos © Mike Kintgen unless otherwise noted. Minuarta obtusiloba Rydb. (alpine sandwort) © Jen Toews, Pinus flexilis E. James (limber pine), Trifolium nanum Torr. (dwarf clover) © Mike Bone, Trifolium dasyphyllum Torr. & A. Gray (alpine clover) © Jen Toews, Tonestus pygmaeus Torr. & A. Gray (pygmy goldenweed), Androsace chamaejasme Wulfen subsp. carinata Torr. Hultén (boreal rockjasmine).

Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 www.CoNPS.org 13 Clockwise, from upper left. All photos © Mike Kintgen unless otherwise noted. Castilleja occidentalis Torr. (Western Indian paintbrush), Mertensia ciliata E. James ex Torr. (alpine bluebells), Chionophila jamesii Benth (Rocky Mountain snowlover) © Jen Toews, Penstemon glaber var. alpinus Torr. A. Gray (alpine sawsepal penstemon), Cymopterus humilis (Pikes Peak alpine parsley © Panayoti Kelaidis:, Paronychia pulvinata A. Gray (Rocky Mountain nailwort), Mertensia alpina Torr. G. Don (alpine bluebells), Primula angustifolia Torr. Raf., (alpine primrose).

◄ most costly forest fires in Colorado’s history, both rhomboidea), moss campion (Silene acaulis), and since 2012.) marsh marigold (Caltha leptosepala, now Caltha chionophila). James, Verplank, and Wilson reached the horse camp shortly after NOON where the other two men awaited In addition, James collected fifteen new species with a meal of fresh venison. At 7:00 PM, they arrived during these three days, which would be described on horseback at their base camp farther down from the Long Expedition of 1820: Fountain Creek, where the entire Long’s party was  Boreal rockjasmine (Androsace chamaejasme once again reunited. Wulfen subsp. carinata (Torr.) Hultén); During this three-day trip into the alpine world of the  Western Indian paintbrush (Castilleja occidentalis Southern Rockies, Edwin James observed and Torr.); documented many alpine species, some of which had  Rocky Mountain snowlover (Chionophila jamesii already been described from other regions of the Benth), described July 14 in James’s diary as “a country and world. Examples of previously described small plant somewhat resembling Penstemon with species include: alpine avens (Geum rossii var. erect flowers;” turbinatum), alpine lily (Lloydia serotina), shrubby  Pikes Peak alpine parsley (Cymopterus humilis cinquefoil, (Dasiphora fruticosa ssp. floribunda, now (Raf.) Tidestr.), a rare plant endemic to Pikes Peak; Potentilla fruticosa), mountain sorrel (Oxyria digyna), mountain death camas (Anticlea elegans, now  Alpine bluebells (Mertensia alpina (Torr.) G. Don); Zigadenus elegans), elephant’s head (Pedicularis  Streamside bluebells (Mertensia ciliata (E. James ex groenlandica), alpine bistort (Bistorta vivipara), Torr.) G. Don.), though there is no record of Whipple’s penstemon (Penstemon whippleanus), this species in James’ diary or the Account and it snowball or diamondleaf saxifrage (Micranthes was likely collected between Denver and Cañon ►

14 www.CoNPS.org Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 ◄ City in July, but certainly could have been collected On a clear day, visitors to America’s mountain are during their Pikes Peak excursion; rewarded with a 360-degree view. To the east, the  Alpine sandwort (Minuartia obtusiloba (Rydb.) plains with their “amber waves of grain” gradually House); decrease in elevation until they are swallowed up by  Rocky Mountain nailwort (Paronychia pulvinata the horizon; the prominent Spanish Peaks tower to the south; and to the north and west the “purple A.Gray); mountains majesty” of the Rockies extend as far as  Alpine sawsepal penstemon (Penstemon glaber var. the eye can see. In the foreground, colorful alpine alpinus (Torr.) A. Gray,); plants abound and a small herd of bighorn sheep can  Limber pine (Pinus flexilis E. James,) that James be seen grazing. Two-hundred years later, it is safe to described in his diary as having “leaves 5 in a say that the Pikes Peak area remains “a region of fascicle, branches remarkably flexible;” astonishing beauty.”  Alpine primrose (Primula angustifolia Torr.); References  James’s telesonix (Telesonix jamesii (Torr.) Raf.) of Ackerfield J. (2015) Flora of Colorado. (Fort Worth: BRIT which the type collection was made on Pikes Peak Press). probably near Windy Point; Evans HE. (1997) The Natural History of the Long  Pygmy goldenweed (Tonestus pygmaeus (Torr. & A. Expedition to the Rocky Mountains (1819-1820). Oxford Gray) A. Nelson); University Press on Demand.  Alpine clover (Trifolium dasyphyllum Torr. & A. Goodman GJ and Lawson CA. (1995) Retracing Major Gray); and Stephen H. Long's 1820 expedition: the itinerary and  Dwarf clover (Trifolium nanum Torr.). botany. University of Oklahoma Press. Thus, as the first scientifically-trained botanist to William RL. (2003) A Region of Astonishing Beauty: The venture to the alpine biome of Colorado and the Botanical Exploration of the Rocky Mountains. Roberts Rinehart Publishers. southern Rocky Mountains, Edwin James left an indelible mark on the alpine flora of this region. Mike Kintgen is the curator of Alpine Collection at Denver Botanic Gardens. His work has taken him across the globe A few days after James’s ascent of Pikes Peak, Long to biomes similar to the Rocky Mountains and steppes of commemorated the accomplishment by naming the Western North America. He greatly enjoys working with mountain James Peak. Later the peak would be regionally native flora and learning the botanical history of christened Pikes Peak after Zebulon Pike. Pike had Colorado. Jen Toews works in the Plant Records spotted the mountain fourteen years earlier in department at the Denver Botanic Gardens and is a Colorado Native Plant Master® who advocates for native November 1806, had attempted to climb it (wrong time plants at every opportunity. In her free time, she enjoys of year), and had declared it to be unclimbable. expanding her native plants garden, hiking to see native However, the name Pikes Peak would stick. James’s flora, photographing native flora, and writing. ֍ name would be moved to a somewhat prominent mountain and the high point of the 17,015-acre James Peak Wilderness, which is nestled between Recent & Relevant Reading Rollinsville, Central City, and Winter Park. Mushrooms are Healing the Earth, Starting with Colorado’s Forests Since James climbed Pikes Peak in 1820, much has Read about a mushroom project changed. Instead of bushwhacking their way up, https://theknow.denverpost.com/2020/06/11/fungal- hikers can now choose between a well-maintained 28- degredation-colorado/240382/#:~:text= mile, class-1 hike up the mountain or a slightly more Native%20mushrooms%20may%20also%20help,to technical, but shorter, 14-mile hike. However, more %201%2C000%20years%20to%20regenerate people opt for the Pikes Peak Cog Railway (currently closed for improvements, but reopening in 2021). Still Stamp Out Neatness, Save (native pollinators more opt to drive their vehicles up a curvy paved road and) the Planet followed by a shuttle ride to the summit. At the top, Blaze a new kind of road. A pathway for pollinators hikers, tourists, and their dogs, are greeted with a https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story visitor center and gift shop serving warm food and /41669/20200613/stamp-out-neatness-save-native- beverages. James probably would have appreciated pollinators-and-the-planet this. Also available for purchase is an assortment of Why Plant Blindness Matters—and What You tchotchkes and souvenirs stating the height of the Can Do About It peak. Appreciate the flora around us https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190425-plant- blindness-what-we-lose-with-nature-deficit-disorder

Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 www.CoNPS.org 15 Featured Story Diné Bih Naniseh Bah Haneeh: Navajo Ethnobotanical Teachings By Arnold Clifford Editor’s note: Approximately half of Colorado’s Western contexts, cultural oral tales, and history. Navajos have Slope is part of the Colorado Plateau, an area that their own plant classification systems, just as the encompasses large portions of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Europeans have in the sciences of systematic botany and Nevada. The 130,000 square-mile region is rich in and plant taxonomy. Navajo herbalists recognize geologic and floristic diversity. Arnold Clifford is a botanist, different individual plant species, including grouping a geologist, and a Navajo elder. He is co-author of The together closely related species by generic Navajo Flora of the Four Corners (2013) and is working on a names, similar in some respects to Western botanical complete Diné Bih Nanise: Flora of the Navajo Indian scientists’ use of Latin binomial scientific names for Reservation. The following article is reprinted with permission from the Winter 2016 issue of The Plant Press, (Vol 38, No individual plant species. Navajo plant names are very 2), the newsletter of the Arizona Native Plant Society. descriptive names that may refer to the morphology of the plant, leaf color, medicinal connotations, Navajo Culturally Significant Plant Species ceremonial associations, tobacco types, and animals Navajo people have lived within the physiographic based on their morphological similarities. boundaries of the Colorado Plateau for thousands of Navajo Philosophy Relating to Plants years before the arrival of the first European settlers. Their extensive understanding of plants and uses of In the process of developing intimate relations with all plants were derived from knowledge passed down plants, Navajo have drawn similarities between plants through Divine intervention of the Navajo Holy People and their own bodies. Teachings include how plants into the lives of the early predecessors of the Navajo are decorations, garlands, and jewelry of Changing people. As a result of species range expansion, travel Woman, Mother Earth. Plants also play roles in the during herbal pilgrimages, experimentation, and trial human anatomy where our blood, arteries, and veins and error, other new plant species were incorporated were modeled after the divaricated, branching nature within the vast knowledge of plants. of plant roots. That is how our arteries and veins began branching out of our hearts, the center of the body. Various Navajo deities have also instructed the people The arteries branching into smaller vessels cover the on uses of native plants and the importance of plants whole human body, providing warmth, oxygen, and for the well being of the Navajo people. other life-giving minerals and elements to the body. Navajo Ethnobotany Plant roots function in a similar way as they break Plants are sacred, alive, and dynamic, and Navajos down and draw up vital nutrients, minerals, elements refer to them as “Holy Plant People.” Knowledge of from the soil to distribute into all parts of the plant, to plant use is interwoven with traditional religious give plants life. The Navajo “Holy Plant and People” ►

Golden Mariposa (Calochortus aureus). Navajo Tea (Thelesperma megapotamicum). © Arnold Clifford © Arnold Clifford

16 www.CoNPS.org Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 ◄ are treated with respect, holiness, and reverence. used as foods, with different plant parts such as roots, When plants are collected for ceremonial use, or for stems, leaves, flower petals, flower nectar, assorted medicinal healing properties, Navajo herbalists talk to berries, tasty fruits, and grass seeds all providing the plants they need. Herbalists introduce themselves, valuable nutrients and sustenance for surviving in the stating their reason for collecting each plant, desert wilderness environment. describing the ailment of patients in need of treatment, Medicinal Plants and calling out sacred plant names. Herbalists offer prayers and make offerings to plants that are gathered Medicinal plants constitute a large group known as the for use. This ensures the curative healing powers of Life Way medicines. These plants are intended to the plant will be invoked, as well as extends protection sustain good health and mental wellness and they to the herbalist gathering the plants. help to improve the lives of Navajos who reverently partake of them. Life Way plant knowledge was Navajo Classification of Plants acquired from supernatural events involving the Holy Navajos have several classifications of plants. One People. The body of Rainboy was dismembered by simple Navajo classification is based on its intended lightning bolts sent by Big Thunder as punishment for use in ceremonies: as tobaccos, as food items, or in being promiscuous. A restoration rite was held for everyday utilitarian usage. Navajo plant classification Rainboy by the Holy People. Before the rite, insects, is a primitive, systematic approach to better animals, and other holy deities were instructed to gather understanding the flora of the diversified habitats the Rainboy’s dismembered remains. Rainboy’s remains Navajo people occupied. Classifying also provided a were collected with different herbs that grew nearby. better understanding of different groups of closely The dismembered remains and sacred herbs were related plant species. Navajo plant classification was brought back together, so a restoration rite could be partly based on floral morphology or physical performed. The holy plants were applied to different similarities of natural families. One basic Navajo body parts of Rainboy, and each body part began to botanical classification of plants includes the heal and was restored to health. From that time forward, identification of Life Way, Evil Way, and Beauty Way these plants were considered plants that would heal plant groups. These plants are associated with various that particular part of the human anatomy. The healing ceremonial rites. Most plants have more than one use powers of these holy plants were “life-giving” and and can be classified under several different therefore, considered Life Way medicinal plants. categories. A basic way Navajos classify plants is There are about three hundred Life Way medicines based on its uses: edible plants, medicinal plants, available for Navajos to rely on for curative remedies. ceremonial plants, tobacco plants, utilitarian plants, Ceremonial Plants dye plants, and plants for protection and for talismans. Numerous species of trees, shrubs, grasses, and Edible Plants flowering, herbaceous forbs are used for different Native plant species are utilized for supplemental aspects and rites of Navajo ceremonials and chants. food, food additives, seasoning, spices, and sweet Plants designated for ceremonial use are employed to treats from flower nectars. Hundreds of plants are make ceremonial implements and paraphernalia, ►

Morning Lily (Oenothera caespitosa var. Broadleaf Cattail (Typha latifolia). navajoensis). © Arnold Clifford © Arnold Clifford

Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 www.CoNPS.org 17 ◄ such as prayer sticks, prayer wands, cigarettes for The Navajo Gods of Botany: The Humpback Gods offerings to various deities, ceremonial masks, dry The Navajo Gods of Botany, Ah Ghaah Dah Hiskid paint material, incense for fumigants, and for Dih (Humpback Gods) are fertility gods and are of the medicines administered during ceremonial rituals. utmost importance to the Navajo ceremonial system. Plants used in ceremonial rites are considered sacred Humpback Gods are sacred, powerful deities of native and are therefore reserved for chanters and medicine plants and seasonal weather, especially precipitation. people who perform these chants. They include the god of harvest, of abundance, and Tobacco Plants the fruits of the fields as well as a polymorphic deity incorporating desert bighorn and Rocky Mountain Tobacco plants are utilized reverently. Most tobacco bighorn sheep, holy people, and humans. They are plants are used as offerings for various deities and responsible for revegetation and reseeding the Earth sacred ceremonial animals. Tobaccos are smoked with grasses, flowering plants, shrubs, and trees. In during ceremonial rites, ritual baths, sweat lodge the process of reseeding, they bless each seed with cleansing rites, as well as during personal meditation all kinds of precipitation. During the coldest part of and prayer sessions. Tobacco smoke helps to clear winter, when extensive stands of fog cover the desert the mind and blesses the body and soul. Tobacco southwest, the Humpback Gods come smoke also carries a person’s prayer out in large numbers, walking amid to the holy deities. Tobaccos utilized fog, each burdened and hunched in Navajo society are not for pleasure, over, carrying bags of seeds and relaxation, or for recreational smoking. precipitation. The humpbacks utter Utilitarian Plants “Ah Woo” as they walk about in the Many plants are used to make every cold, frosty fog, often stopping to day utensils and household objects shake their backs to release native for domestic use, such as hair plant seeds and precipitation. They do brushes for grooming, floor brooms, circular dances to poke each seed kitchen utensils, digging tools, farming into the ground with their planting tools, weaving looms, weaving tools, stick-cane. During the spring and carding combs and spinning spindles, early summer, the whole southwest is weaving dowels, bows, and arrows. blessed with new flowering plants, Trees and larger shrubs are prepared grasses, and shrubs. for hogans, shade houses, sheep The Humpback God wears an corrals, sweat lodges, fencing inverted Navajo basket with an material, and firewood for heating, Navajo Humpback God opening at the top to help secure it to cooking, and ceremonial fires. weaving. © Zonnie Gilmore the top of the impersonator’s head. The basket is painted black with a Native Dye Plants white zigzag all the way around the rim. The black Numerous plants are used by Navajo weavers for represents night time clouds, with the white zigzag dying wool. Various plant parts provide natural dyes. depicting lightning strikes between adjacent dark The bark of some shrubs and trees yield red, reddish clouds. Standing upright around the rim of the baskets brown, and brown dye hues. The roots of canaigre are numerous red flicker or red woodpecker feathers. dock can produce yellow, yellow-orange, and yellow- The feathers represent sunbeams shining through brown colors. Flowers and seeds of many plant clouds immediately after rain. On top of the basket are species are also used to create many unique dye two bluish horns that represent dark clouds before and hues. Plants are normally boiled in an acidic solution during rain. The whole head piece is a crown of containing a mordant, which helps the dye color to thunder, lightning, and rain. Along the back is a turn a richer hue and also helps the dye to fix to the rainbow with feathers attached along the crest. The wool fibers. feathers indicate sun rays radiating from the eastern These are specialized plants used to ward off evil horizon, and the rainbow indicates the presence of influences and also for the protection of individuals. holy people and the blessings of rain. Under the Most of these plants are known by very few people, rainbow is a dark, black sack with white bars. The some are known only by certain clan or family groups. hump contains mist, dew, frost, female rain, male rain, These plants are carried on a person for protection snow, all aspects of precipitation, and vegetation while they are at public functions where many people seeds of all types. Humpback Gods carry and walk are in attendance, such as fairs, ceremonial with planting-stick canes. ► gatherings, rodeos, and other public gatherings.

18 www.CoNPS.org Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 ◄ A Note from the Author presented here to give an example of the diversity of plants available. These stories of the Navajo Gods of Botany, Ah Ghaah Dah Hiskid Dih (Humpback God), the Navajo Aliciella cliffordii (Clifford’s Diné Star, or Clifford’s classification system, the sacred Navajo plant names Gilia), a member of Beauty Way tobacco. They are and its uses were bestowed and blessed upon me essential plants required in a mixture of several plants from my late maternal grandmother Sarah Charley of that constitute the Beauty Way tobacco mixture. Beclahbito, New Mexico. Different species of the genus Aliciella are called by the generic Navajo name Hozho Nah Toh (beauty This ancient, sacred, Navajo ethnobotanical knowledge tobacco) and are classified as Beauty Way plants. comes from seven or more generations of my family. Clifford’s Diné Star is a rare plant known only from the Sarah was taught by her late mother Irene Bennallie north foothills of the Lukachukai Mountains and the of Beclahbito, New Mexico. Both Sarah and Irene foothills of Mexican Cry Mesa, Arizona. Named after were instructed by Sarah’s paternal grandfather, and Arnold Clifford of Beclahbito, New Mexico. both collected ceremonial herbs, medicines, and tobaccos for him. Sarah’s grandfather was Tsao Lao Calochortus aureus (golden mariposa), a showy Alth Tsosii (police slender, or slim police), who yellow-flowered member of the Lily family. The white practiced the Shooting Way, Wind Way, and Beauty bulbs below the ground are edible when fresh. They Way chants. He also specialized in Navajo herbal and taste similar to peanuts. Its Navajo name is Alth Chiin medicinal application. I possess a small portion of this Daah, which means children’s food. Found south of once vast family knowledge, and I feel it is time to Sheep Springs to Window Rock regions. pass this knowledge onto other Navajos. Oenothera caespitosa var. navajoensis (morning lily), This knowledge, I believe, belongs to the collective a plant called Kleeh Yih Ghaii, meaning night time Navajo people as a whole. It belongs to Navajos turning white, or night bloomer. A plant used as a willing to learn, willing to keeping an open heart to our medicine to heal body sores. Found on weathered, traditions, our culture and our religious beliefs. If we grayish white-colored Mancos Shale surrounding the horde such sacred knowledge, no one benefits; it all Shiprock region to the Four Corners. The papery, becomes lost. We have already lost over half of our white flowers are very large. ceremonial systems, including unmatched plant Rumex hymenosepalus (canaigre dock), a plant of knowledge acquired by our ancestors who never had sandy places. Easily identified by its large wavy leaves a chance to pass on their infinite knowledge of all and light reddish flowering stems. Its large, bunched aspects of Navajo teachings. root tubers are about a foot and half or more below the Examples of Navajo Plant Uses basal leaves. The tuber roots are boiled to produce various colors of orange-brown to brownish dyes. Thick Navajos still utilize 1,500 or more native plant species; lower stems are used to make Navajo pie fillings. In some however, plant knowledge is declining. In the past species, the seeds are used medicinally. Its Navajo Navajos had a vault of plant knowledge that included name, Chaa Ha Tiin Ni, refers to darkness dweller. more than 3,000 to 4,000 plant species occurring within the Colorado Plateau. Six different plants are Thelesperma megapotamicum (Navajo tea, greenthread), a plant gathered to make Navajo tea, a mild stimulant, served as a beverage during meals or during social greetings. During illness, Navajo tea helps to reduce fevers, helping the body feel better. Boiling the plant produces different shades of a yellowish-orange dye that is used by weavers to dye sheep wool. Chiil Ah Whee (plant coffee) is the Navajo name. Found throughout the desert southwest. Typha latifolia (broadleaf cattail), a multi-use plant growing in wetlands. Its fleshy roots are edible. Its long, broad leaves were used to make mats, skirts, and other useful items. Flower stalks provided ceremonial pollen and the fresh green flower stalks are also edible. When the flower stalks matured and were dry, they were collected for stuffing in pillows, pads, kid’s toys and other items. The Navajo name, Clifford’s Diné Star (Aliciella cliffordii). Ethel Nigh Teel, means cattail wide. The generic © Arnold Clifford Navajo name is Ethel. ֍

Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 www.CoNPS.org 19 Basic Botany

All Life Depends on Plants Exposing younger generations to plants is key, too. By Deryn Davidson I’m realizing that my 2.5-year-old has tons of books about animals, but very few about plants. Okay, he Do you know that a large percentage of our population does have “Botany for Babies,” but he also has two is afflicted with something known as plant blindness? parents who are plant nerds. Perhaps if there were It’s true. By definition, these poor people have “the board books with photos of different plants, he would inability to see or notice the plants in one’s own be able to identify penstemons and prickly pears just environment,” which leads to “the inability to recognize as quickly as he identifies horses and pigs. the importance of plants in the biosphere and in Wandersee recommends having a plant mentor in human affairs.” It seems that most people favor animals over plants. Sure, animals might seem more your life, or you can be the mentor. I am encouraged by the huge uptick in interest around houseplants. charismatic and dynamic, but come on now! We would Apparently, houseplants are be nothing without plants. super hip right now. Surely that All joking aside, plant blindness will have an impact on combating actually has some pretty big plant blindness and will extend implications. The term was beyond the walls of their homes coined in 1998 by botanists as people come to appreciate the James Wandersee of Louisiana positive affects those plants have State University and Elisabeth on them. Schussler of the Ruth Patrick The work of volunteer programs Science Education Center. It’s like CoNPS, CSU Extension quite a fascinating topic. The average person truly just doesn’t Native Plant Master® and Master Gardener programs, along with process that there are plants in public botanic gardens, are doing their view. Because plants grow a lot to help educate the public close to one another, are a about the importance of plants. similar color, and don’t move (much), humans tend to clump So, if you’re going on hikes with them together as “non- friends who don’t understand threatening things” and filter why you stop every 10 feet to them out of the many, many point out a plant, or if you have other bits of visual data the eyes been putting a lot of time and Field crescent butterfly (Phyciodes receive. effort into your garden and pulchella) on a ragwort (Packera sp.). people aren’t knocking down "There is a kaleidoscopic array © Deryn Davidson your door to compliment you, it’s of visual information bombarding probably because they just don’t see the plants. Keep our retinas every waking second, and plants are so up the good work and little by little we’ll help combat easy to ignore unless they are in bloom," Wandersee plant blindness together! says. "Plant blindness is the human default condition." I do have to share that my 2.5-year-old is doing pretty If people don’t pay attention to plants, they won’t place well with his plant ID skills. So far on his list are yucca, much importance on them and the role they play in ponderosa, pinon, juniper, cactus, oak, mint, our daily lives. They are, of course, not only food— dandelion, and daffodil. they are medicine, they are fiber, they are fuel, they are beauty, and so on. Deryn has been a native plant enthusiast since her time as a horticulturist at the Lady Bird Johnson What can we do about this?? We can be plant advocates! I have no doubt that most, if not all, of the Wildflower Center. She is now the CSU horticulture extension agent in Boulder County and co-runs the people reading this are already in that camp. Anytime Native Plant Master® program there. She is there is an opportunity to tell our family, friends, passionate about helping people understand the neighbors, and even complete strangers about the importance of native plants in our open spaces and wonders of plants, we should seize that moment. Stimulate their imagination with stories of your favorite natural areas and also in incorporating them into our urban landscapes. ֍ plants and gardening moments.

20 www.CoNPS.org Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 Corner

change and the degradation is liable to worsen. A fair Reintroduction of Wolves question, then, is whether wolf reintroduction might to Colorado: Could This have a beneficial effect on our native plant Affect Our Native Plant communities. Wolves are a keystone species. Their activities as Communities? ungulate predators produce trophic cascades affecting plant survival, pollinators, birds, mesopredators such Conservation By John Emerick as foxes and weasels, and smaller herbivores such as rabbits and various rodents. It is difficult to estimate This November, Coloradans will have the opportunity what the disappearance of wolves has meant to the to vote on Proposition 107 to restore gray wolves to structure of our native ecosystems. Colorado. Wolves were deliberately extirpated from Colorado during the first half of the 20th century. The Elk are the primary prey of Rocky Mountain last wolf in the state was killed in 1945. Since then a populations of wolves. In Colorado, there are more few wolves have wandered into Colorado, but most than 280,000 elk, the largest population of any state. have been killed; there is no sustained population. If There are also 430,000 mule deer, mostly concentrated Proposition 107 passes, it would mandate the in western Colorado. However, there are also development of a scientifically-based wolf approximately 500,000 cattle and 175,000 sheep that management plan; after which, wolves would be also are grazed on public lands west of Interstate 25. reintroduced to a small number of public land sites on Grazing by these ungulates has a significant impact Colorado’s western slope. on our plant communities. Those of us who are passionate about our native plant To assess the potential impact of wolves on species and plant communities, and who have spent Colorado’s landscapes, it is useful to examine the considerable time on our public lands, have effect that wolves have had on Yellowstone National undoubtedly observed widespread degradation to Park. Wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone these communities by wildlife and livestock grazing. In National Park beginning in 1995. That was also about places of heavy grazing, plant community diversity is the time when elk populations were at all-time highs in low and the composition of introduced plant species is both Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain National Parks, often high. Add the potential impacts of climate and much has been written about resource damage due to elk in both places. The most noticeable damage occurs in aspen groves and in riparian willow carrs, particularly if elk use these resources year-round or if unmanaged livestock overgraze these systems. When healthy, both ecosystems support a high diversity of sub-dominant plant species, as well as diverse animal communities including mammals, birds, and invertebrates. This diversity declines with prolonged heavy grazing. In Rocky Mountain National Park, excessive grazing of alpine tundra plants by elk may have contributed to the decline of ptarmigan numbers. Aspen groves—typically clones in which the trees are interconnected by a common root system—produce shoots, or suckers, from the root system to expand the Forty-one gray wolves were introduced to Yellowstone grove or to replace ageing or diseased trees. When National Park from 1995 to 1997. Their numbers tripled the shoots are heavily browsed by elk and other during the first few years, then settled to about 100 herbivores, the groves fail to mature. Elk also gnaw wolves in the park since 2009. If Proposition 107 is the bark of aspen trees during late winter and early passed, wolves would be reintroduced to Colorado by spring, and that can lead to infection of the tree by the end of 2023 with the numbers of introduced wolves various diseases. Both situations in concert can yet to be determined. Photo © National Park Service, eventually lead to the death of the entire clone. ► Yellowstone National Park.

Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 www.CoNPS.org 21 have led to increases in the numbers of mule deer and pronghorn, two important prey species for coyotes. The reintroduction of wolves to Colorado is likely to have mostly subtle and indirect effects on our native plant communities. Those effects will probably not occur after until wolf populations increase to ecologically effective numbers and stabilize. Some over-browsed ecosystems might benefit through a wolf-elk-plant trophic cascade as has been documented in Yellowstone and Banff National Parks. However, Colorado has experienced almost a century without a full suite of large predators at a time when elk and livestock populations have been climbing on our public lands. The effects of overgrazing on some of these lands will not be reversed by wolves alone; Elk can severely damage aspen bark, which can lead that will also require a public commitment for effective to disease and death of the grove, as well as the loss wildlife and grazing management. of the other plant and animal species that depend on Certainly, there is concern from the ranching the ecosystem. The inset shows severely browsed community about potential livestock depredation by aspen suckers. © John Emerick wolves. This is to be expected. However, studies have shown that when wild prey is abundant, wolves will ◄ Riparian willow carrs, particularly those in broader select those animals even when livestock are valley bottoms, are commonly occupied by beavers. abundant. In the five states of the northern Rocky Willows and beavers are codependent. Beavers use Mountains (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, the willows for food and building materials for their Wyoming) there were in 2015 a total of 1,980,600 dams and lodges. Beaver dams raise the water table, cattle in counties that also had wolves. In those same providing shallow ground water that willows need. counties of that year, confirmed depredation of cattle When willows are browsed heavily by elk, beavers by wolves was 148, or 0.007 percent. It has also been leave due to over-competition with elk, beaver dams shown that the use of range riders and other predator are no longer maintained, and streams and rivers coexistence strategies can drastically reduce livestock begin to run straight and fast. This results in losses to wolves. downcutting of the channel, a drop in the water table, and further demise of the willows. Sedges, grasses, Proposition 107 is likely to succeed. According to a and smaller shrubs that help to maintain channel recent statewide survey completed earlier this year, ► stability are also affected by heavy elk browsing. Many observations from Yellowstone National Park show that the presence of wolves keep elk moving, preventing them from yarding in riparian willows and aspen groves for long periods of time. There are both diurnal and seasonal movements of elk to avoid areas where wolves are active. Despite many articles claiming that elk decline and ecosystem recovery in Yellowstone is due to wolf reintroduction, more recent investigations have shown that the situation is much more complicated. For example, cougar and grizzly numbers were also on the increase, which increased elk mortality, and there was a high volume of elk hunting outside of the Park. A view of what was once a lush riparian willow carr in Beaver populations began to rise in some areas due Rocky Mountain National Park. Heavy competition to declining elk populations, benefitting riparian plant between elk and beaver forced the beaver to leave, and animal diversity. While there certainly has been resulting in a drop in the water table and ultimate death ecosystem recovery in some areas, there is little of the willows. What was once home to a thriving improvement in others. It is worth noting that as elk community of neotropical migrant birds such as the populations declined, bison numbers increased. Also, MacGillivray’s and Wilson’s Warblers, and plants such since wolves suppress coyote numbers, this could as the wood lily, is no longer existent. © John Emerick

22 www.CoNPS.org Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 ◄ 84% of respondents favored the measure. While Stone SA, Breck SW, Timberlake J, Haswell PM, Najera F, most ranching and hunting organizations oppose wolf Bean BS, and Thornhill DJ. (2017) Adaptive use of reintroduction, there is high consistency between nonlethal strategies for minimizing wolf–sheep conflict in urban and rural communities, as well as between Idaho. J. Mammalogy, 98:33–44. eastern slope and western slope communities in DOI:10.1093/jmammal/gyw188 support of the proposition. Some have suggested that John Emerick, PhD, is on the emeritus faculty of the the popularity of the measure is driven by younger department of environmental science and engineering, Coloradans who are more interested in ecology and Colorado School of Mines. In addition to his academic conservation than their parents or grandparents. career, John has taught numerous field seminars on various aspects of Colorado’s ecology for over 40 years, Perhaps the reintroduction of wolves to Colorado—if it mostly in Rocky Mountain National Park. He has hiked occurs—will be a catalyst for a larger, more holistic extensively throughout the state. Nowadays, he spends part movement in which Coloradans will press for: of his summers conducting field surveys for the Colorado Natural Heritage Program. ֍  Better scientifically-based wildlife management, including non-lethal predator control;

 More responsible livestock management, including Basal Rosettes predator coexistence strategies and cessation of By Arthur Clifford over-grazing on public lands; and I have lust  Programs to restore plant and animal diversity to our For the living public lands where it has been lost due to excessive The Holy Earth livestock grazing and large elk populations. And its giving Native plants matter for ecological sustainability, for Many are such aesthetics, and for maintaining the integrity of the Common things natural world. In the face of changing climate, we The petals on sunflowers need to do as much as possible to conserve and Rayed sparrow’s wings restore our native plant communities. Wolves may be In rapture joined part of that equation. I am with these References We upward gaze Beschta RL, Donahue DL, DellaSala DA, Rhodes JL, Carr From our knees JR, O’Brien MH, Fleischner TL, and Williams CD. (2012) Adapting to climate change on western public lands: addressing the ecological effects of domestic, wild, and feral ungulates. Environmental Management DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9964-9 Boyce, MS. (2018) Wolves for Yellowstone: dynamics in time and space. J. Mammalogy, 99:1021–1031. DOI:10.1093/jmammal/gyy115 Janeiro-Otero A, Newsome TM, Van Eeden LM, Ripple WJ, Dormann CF. (2020) Grey Wolf (Canis lupus) predation on livestock in relation to prey availability. J. Biological Conservation 243 DOI/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108433 Klaptosky, J. (2016) The plight of aspen: emerging as a beneficiary of wolf restoration on Yellowstone’s northern range. Yellowstone Science 24:65-69 Niemiec R, Berl REW, Gonzalez M, Teel T, Camara C, Collins M, Salerno J, Crooks K, Schultz C, Breck S, Hoag D. (2020) Public perspectives and media reporting of wolf reintroduction in Colorado. Peer J. 8:e9074 DOI 10.7717/peerj.9074

Ripple WJ and Beschta RL. (2005) Linking wolves and Alpine spring beauty (Claytonia megarhiza) on Pikes plants: Aldo Leopold on trophic cascades. Bioscience, Peak. © Kelly Ambler 55:613-621.

Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 www.CoNPS.org 23 Garden Natives Aspen for the Landscape By Jim Borland properly grown, pruned, and dug, a much higher Not very long ago, every aspen planted in the percentage of the root system goes with the seed landscape was collected from the wild. Collected with grown tree to the landscape and local establishment is it was the possibility that any of a myriad of diseases virtually 100% assured. and damage from over 300 insects, if not the insects themselves, came with it, too. These factors, Through progressive nursery techniques that involve combined with the difficulty of collecting sufficient greenhouse sowings, specialized soils, carbon dioxide supporting roots from a species whose root system enrichment of the atmosphere, fertilization with every meanders, non-tapered through the soil, result in watering, and 24-hour-per day lighting, 12 feet of losses commonly exceeding 50 percent. growth during the first season is common. The better aspen for your landscape is the one grown Why, then, are aspens still being dug and sold? They from seed. Yes, seed. Regardless of what you may are cheap. And, as one coffee magnate once said, have heard, aspen do, indeed, produce great “You get what you pay for.” Insist on seed-grown quantities of viable seed. Small and losing viability aspen for your landscape. Only when enough of us do rapidly after shed from the tree, aspen seed rarely this will the nursery industry make the appropriate finds natural conditions conducive to germination and changes and give us what we insist upon. early seedling success. Instead, the vast quantity of Jim has been fooling around with native plants for more annually-shed seed is simply lost. A successful than 40 years in private, commercial, and public venues. germination event in the wild is cause for celebration His home garden contains 1000s of native plants, most and papers written. grown from seed at home and now not supplementally Yet when collected, cleaned, and sown under ideal watered for 20 years. Jim has written hundreds of articles, given talks too numerous to count, and continues to grow nursery conditions, aspen seed quickly produces fast- and plant the two or three native plants not yet in his growing, healthy, and strong trees free of diseases garden. ֍ and insects. The seed-grown aspen is a tree far superior to those collected from the wild. When

Aspen (Populus tremuloides) tree (© Kelly Ambler); female catkins and male catkins (© Bryan Kochis).

24 www.CoNPS.org Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 Tips from the Pros Still Seeing Mulch Years Later? Plant More By Benjamin Vogt If you planted a garden two to three years ago and you still see lots of wood mulch, then you need more plants. You're probably still seeing a decent number of weeds at this point, too (mulch isn't a magic weed bullet and, if too thick, often creates an ideal seed bed). So, you know, more plants. More layers. More density. And if you are planting a garden today think about where you do and don't want to be in two- to three years: 1. Only put down 1" of mulch if you are using it. More mulch = less plant sowing while generally inhibiting forb and grass growth. 2. Put plants on 12" centers (12" apart) and no more. 3. Consider mixing potted plants and seeds to increase coverage. In spring, sow grasses and annuals among what you planted. In mid-to-late fall, consider a dormant seeding of perennial forbs among what you planted. (Maybe what you plant is the highly designed part, or plants that need a head start because they work on roots first like baptisia and amorpha and silphium, [or other plants suited to Colorado]). What do you do if you are on a constrained budget? because one has host plants does not mean the 1. See #3 above. The best advice is to plant the garden is beautiful to wildlife, and just because one architectural plants—trees, shrubs, and perennial has a diversity of flowers doesn't mean the garden is flowers—that take longer to establish and serve as beautiful to wildlife. the backbone for the design. You may also want to Benjamin Vogt is the author of A New Garden Ethic: plant aggressive species and let them start to self- Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future. His sow or run asap. prairie-inspired design firm, Monarch Gardens, is based out of Nebraska. 2. Get plugs. Most landscapers and nurseries get https://www.monarchgard.com/thedeepmiddle/still-seeing- their plant material from wholesalers, and that mulch-years-later-plant-more requires a business license. But you can also get them (if you're east of the Great Plains) via Izel Native Plants (https://www.izelplants.com/), which works as a middleman for wholesalers to sell to the public. That means if you need plants in quantities

of 32 and 50 you can get them for a much better

per-plant cost. My new book will attempt to better align these two perspectives, as both are critical for the success of urban gardens that both appeal to and involve people and wildlife together. It is critical that people find nature-inspired gardens beautiful, while it is just as critical that wildlife find them beautiful as well. Just

Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 www.CoNPS.org 25 News, Events,Media and Reviews Announcements

Please check the Calendar of Events online at CoNPS may offer some chapter meetings, workshops, https://conps.org/mfm-event-calendar/#!calendar and lectures as webinars or other online meetings. for chapter meetings, garden tours, and other Others might be postponed or canceled. Field trips are events. With the evolving COVID-19 situation, CoNPS also being scheduled, but may be canceled or is not hosting any in-person events. The status of postponed. These will be posted online and will be future CoNPS events might also change. promoted via the CoNPS E-News. CoNPS Chapter Events Plateau Chapter have been replaced with coyote willow; Shasta daisies have been replaced with Rocky Mountain penstemon, Help with Native Vegetation Efforts scarlet gilia, and more; and nearly all non-native plants Grand Junction have been removed and replaced with native plants. Wednesday mornings Plant stakes paid for by a generous CoNPS Mission Colorado West Land Trust and the City of Grand Grant have been installed to inform visitors about the Junction are looking for volunteers for the ecological names of plants in the garden. restoration of the Three Sisters/Lunch Loops recreational area south of Grand Junction. Legacy Interpretive signage is currently being designed and land uses and last year's development of a will be installed this fall. Curriculum is also being recreational pathway through the area have impacted developed to educate school children and museum soils and native vegetation. visitors about Ute ethnobotany. For more information The revegetation project aims to restore native and to RSVP, contact [email protected] vegetation and establish sustainable community Southeast Chapter stewardship of the resources. The properties are owned by City of Grand Junction and protected by Watershed Restoration in Action! conservation easements held by the land trust. A Colorado Springs grant awarded from Colorado Youth Corps Saturday, August 15 8:30–10:00 AM Association (and GoCO) enabled the project to use Join local citizen scientist and CoNPS member Gary crews from Western Colorado Conservation Corps to Rapp for an engaging discussion and demonstration do some of the heavy lifting, but the rest is being done of how riparian forests can be restored to protect us by land trust employees and volunteers. from stormwater damage and enhance native Volunteers meet Wednesday mornings to do the work. pollinator and songbird habitat. With the pandemic, it has been tricky to engage many volunteers, but social distancing and mask wearing Please meet at the Shooks Run Agroforestry Project practices are in use. The public, and especially terrace garden at the north end of North Shooks Run CoNPS members, are invited to participate in the Park, about a 200-yard walk north from on-street revegetation effort. For more information, contact parking near 653 N. Franklin St. (just west of its [email protected] intersection with N. Prospect St.). Please observe City Park and Recreation rules for COVID-19 posted at: Learn About Plants Used by the Utes on the https://coloradosprings.gov/parks Western Slope Montrose Thursday, August 20 10:00–11:00 AM Cross-Pollination Events The Plateau Chapter invites CoNPS members on the Western Slope to learn more about Ute ethnobotany October 1-November 3 at the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose. After the short Colorado Parks & Recreation Annual Conference program, attendees may want to stay for an hour to https://www.cpra-web.org/page/SessionProposals help weed a section of the garden in preparation for October 6-8 fall mulching. Bring gloves and a trowel. Sustaining Colorado Watersheds Conference The Ute Indian Museum is in the final stages of a Avon, CO complete restoration of its native plant garden. The https://www.watereducationcolorado.org/programs- new Ethnobotany Garden is the result of a two-year events/conferences/ makeover of an existing garden space. Chinese willow

26 www.CoNPS.org Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 CoNPS Webinars CoNPS offers webinars on a variety of native plant Kate Hogan has worked in the field of ecology for more topics. Sign up for these webinars on the CoNPS than 20 years. She holds a BS in natural science and website (https://conps.org/mfm-event- biology from the University of Puget Sound and an MS in calendar/#!calendar). New webinars are constantly nonprofit management from Regis University. For the last being added to the calendar. five years, Kate has worked at Denver Audubon as the community outreach coordinator, where she presents Ecosystems in Colorado's Southeast Prairie outreach programs throughout the Denver metro area and Saturday, August 15; 9:00 AM–NOON manages the Audubon Center at Chatfield. Presenter: Carol English, MS This workshop focuses on several ecosystems within the Western Great Plains Ecoregion including the shortgrass prairie, shale barrens, sandhill shrubland, playas, and southwestern great plains canyon areas. Carol will cover the native plants and animals that are ◄ “Steve Olson”… continued from page 29 dependent on plant species in this region. Participants He grew up in the Chicago suburbs, too “clumsy and will also learn about the different types of rare plant inept” for sports, by his own description. So he communities that occur in these areas. gravitated to nature. First the birds in his backyard. Carol English has been involved in the field of natural Then, while attending Southern Illinois University, the resources and education for more than 30 years. She holds world of plants. It was a fragile and intricate world, he a BS in earth science, teaching certificate, and MS in biology. Carol has presented natural resource classes and came to learn. There were layers. Understory and programs at Yosemite Institute, Outward Bound, and overstory. And everything was connected. For an Jefferson County Open Space. She is a certified Native early job out of college, Olson embarked into the Plant Master® and taught Native Plant Master courses for cypress swamps of southern Illinois with a team. nine years. In addition, Carol has worked as a botanist for Someone noted the things that crept, crawled and the Colorado Natural Heritage Program, Yosemite National buzzed. Someone noted the things that slithered and Park, and Colorado State Land Board. She has owned her swam. Another noted the things that scampered, natural-resource based business for seven years. another the things that flew. And then there was Learn How to Use iNaturalist Olson, who noted the things that grew, of which Tuesday, August 25, 2020 9:30–11:00 AM everything else was dependent upon. Presenter: Audrey Spencer He eventually had enough of the swamps and Looking to contribute to citizen science? Or maybe flatlands. “A change of scenery was necessary,” he you just want to share your observations and connect says. And Colorado was that. The milkweed of the with scientists who can identify the plants, animals plains. The colorful cacti of the desert. Forests of and other organisms you observe? Learn how to use ponderosa pine. Meadows of wildflowers, every color this dynamic tool at a free webinar sponsored by the of the rainbow. Rugged cliffs and their surprising, CoNPS education and outreach committee. Sign up at persevering vegetation. The surprises found at every CoNPS.org. A link will be sent to registrants by or elevation range, from montane to subalpine to the before Monday, August 24. extreme tundra, where flora somehow found a way. Wildscaping 101—Native Plants for Birds Olson’s curiosity doesn’t require surprises. Here in an Sunday, August 30; 1:00–3:30 PM aspen grove on Pikes Peak, he observes things he’s Presenter: Kate Hogan, MS come to expect. “All kinds of good stuff here,” he says, Are you passionate about native plants and want to returning to his cross-legged position on the ground. learn more about the ecological connections between Something grows below a rusted pipeline. “Besseya our natives and our Colorado bird life? Join Kate for plantaginea,” Olson says, referring to the flower an engaging and exciting webinar on ways to diversify commonly known as kittentails. Near it is one that the birds found in your own yard, using a variety of goes by pussytoes, for its pad shape. Olson carefully food groups provided by our native plants. Participants peels back grass. “For people with sharper eyes,” he will review the newly created Native Plants for Birds says, revealing a minuscule blossom that upon closer handout designed in partnership with Denver Audubon, look appears to be a perfect, white diamond. “Rock CoNPS, Audubon Rockies, and CSU Extension. jasmine.” He picks a furry-feeling strand and smells a This webinar is designed for all skill levels of native scent that recalls some cleanse. He picks sage to plant enthusiasts. Kate will review some of the science smell that soothing scent, too. He moves onto a behind the essential need for native plants in our perennial, starry solomon’s seal. He admires the landscape, and some of the native plants that can be flower barely in bloom. “Nothing spectacular,” he says. planted in the fall. “Just kind of nice.” ֍

Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 www.CoNPS.org 27 In Memorium: Stanley Smookler January 23, 1929–March 28, 2020

Amateur Botanist, Friend, The GGCSP herbarium collection eventually topped 800 voucher specimens. Throughout the years, Stan and Mentor and Linda maintained a species list with all the By Denise C. Wilson locations and descriptions. I first met Stan in 2006, when I was looking for a local Stan was a patient mentor, always sharing his expert on the plants of Golden Gate Canyon State knowledge. Together we eventually collected more Park. The Chicago Botanic Garden had hired me to than 100 seed accessions within GGCSP for the collect native, wild seed for the Kew Gardens original seed bank, the Seeds of Success Program, Millennium Seed Bank. GGCSP had recommended I and the Dixon National Tallgrass Prairie Seed Bank. contact Stan, because he had Panayoti Kelaidis once verified established an herbarium that Stan had found alpine starting in 1991. In it was more aster (Aster alpinus), not in its than 600 voucher specimens; typical location, which is the and boy, he knew the plants of tundra, but at GGCSP! This that park! plant is native to the On one of our forays near a mountains of Europe trailhead at the southern end (including the Alps) with a of the park, Stan found a subspecies in Canada and substantial population of early Alaska. cinqfoil (Potentilla concinna). However, Stan’s greatest find It’s a relatively small plant, so was in 1982. It was the Ute we were on hands and knees lady’s tresses (Spiranthes with noses to the ground, diluvialis), which is now a US when a hiker came up and Fish & Wildlife threatened asked, “Did you lose a contact species. He alerted Dr. Bill lens?” Stan replied, “No, we’re Weber, who called in Charles collecting seeds of Potentilla Sheviak, a prominent native concinna!” The man replied, orchid specialist from New “Oh yeah, I thought that!” York. Charles subsequently Stan had been working with described this species with the long-time companion Linda type locality from the area Senser and Steve Austin on where Stan had found the the GGCSP identification and plants. voucher project for some time. Stan passed away March 28 in Still, he liked to tell me that the Boulder. He loved to seed collection work was his Stan Smookler at Golden Gate Canyon State encourage people to study first paid botany gig. I Park. © Linda Senser plants and to share remember him calling out the knowledge. species name as we found them. Sure enough, when we ran the plant through the key, he’d be right. When I will always be grateful and carry the memories of our he wasn’t, he would sulk like Walter Matthau in the fieldwork. I owe him a great debt, but Stan would movie “Grumpy Old Men.” He thought he should be never want to be paid back. right all the time. Denise is the CoNPS marketing and events coordinator, in SEINet has 805 voucher collections by Stan and those addition to running Wilson Associates, Inc., a botanical do not include vouchers from the GGCSP herbarium, contracting firm specializing in native seed collection for the National Park Service. She worked for Chicago Botanic because it hasn’t digitized them. Stan took it upon Gardens for twelve years, contributing to three of their seed himself to make a list of local plants that the Denver banks while taking seasonal positions in plant vegetation. Botanic Gardens Kathryn Kalmbach Herbarium did not Her botany master’s degree was completed May 2009 from yet have. He then worked with Linda Senser for fifteen the University of Colorado, Denver, with a geographic years collecting those vouchers. information systems certificate. ֍

28 www.CoNPS.org Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 Member Profile: Steve Olson Colorado’s Go-to Botanist Steve Olson Sets Sights on Retirement By Seth Bolster Editor’s note: the following is reprinted with permission from Here on the side of the Pikes Peak Highway, it’s easy to the June 24, 2020, edition of The Gazette. Steve Olson is a imagine a cement drainage — built as part of the long-time CoNPS member, chair of the field studies mountain’s long history of development and committee, and a member of the Aquilegia review board. commercialism — consuming ground where Pikes Peak parsley might have once sprouted. True, Olson says. Pikes Peak parsley was probably impacted. But for as globally rare as it is, “within this place, it’s clearly not hard to find,” Olson says, “and it seems to be fairly happy.” Here in early June, he’s pleasantly surprised to see some yellow already bursting forth, not long after snow melted from these high elevations. “It’s just getting started,” he says. Olson, however, is wrapping up. He’s looking to retire in the coming months. He’ll leave behind that database for his successor — assuming there will one. It’s hard to US Forest Service botanist Steve Olson looks at know for sure amid ongoing uncertainties with the Forest lichen he found on Pikes Peak on Tuesday, June 2, Service’s budget, which has been increasingly 2020. Olson is the lone botanist for the Pike and San consumed by wildfire management. For fiscal year 2021, Isabel national forests and Cimarron and Comanche the agency’s proposed cuts were described as “an grasslands. Photo by Christian Murdock, The Gazette. improvement over past years’ recommendations” by the National Association of State Foresters, “but nearly all of Steve Olson stops along the Pikes Peak Highway and those proposed cuts would be made to state and private enters a spruce forest to see what he can find. “Let’s see forestry programs.” what this is,” he says, crossing his long, skinny legs and folding downward to the ground. His arms are gangly, like Olson has been the lone botanist assigned to the entire branches, his fingers spindly, and they gently inspect this PSICC. He concedes those 2,200 plant entries hardly green patch. It’s not an inch away from his glasses, which scratch the surface of the vast and varied beauty and rest at the crook of his nose. He sits as if in communion, or mystery of his assigned “unit,” covering the Kansas like a kindergartner at story time. “A-ha,” he softly remarks. prairie, the canyonlands of southern Colorado, the famed It’s Pikes Peak parsley. One of a kind, Olson explains, rivers of Chaffee and Fremont counties, the foothills of found only around this summit and the neighboring slopes America’s Mountain and other 14,000-foot peaks spread of Almagre. It’s something about this particular soil, Olson across the Sangre de Cristo, Sawatch and Mosquito says, this crumbly granite. “It’s been suspected in a few ranges. Olson’s database “is one of those things that’ll other places,” he says, “but nothing definitive.” never be complete,” he says. “Because there’s always something new showing up.” It would be easy to confuse. Pikes Peak parsley looks like some clump you might find in your backyard. That is He often roams likes this, quick to curl himself down to if you’re someone without the analytical eye of Olson. the ground for investigation. He brings binoculars, He’s the US Forest Service botanist assigned to the 3 because he’s a bird aficionado. “But also it’s a labor- million acres defining the Pike and San Isabel national saving device,” he says. He might train the binoculars on forests and Cimarron and Comanche grasslands.You a distant ridge and decide he need not go there. can find Pikes Peak parsley—its scientific name is Efficiency has been key to his job. A permit request Oreoxis humilis—within a database of some 2,200 other comes, and “the ultimate goal is to look at every single hard-to-pronounce plant names that Olson has compiled. site,” Olson says. “But the reality is, for as big a place as This has been a project of his for the nearly 20 years he’s the Pike and San Isabel and Cimarron and Comanche is, spent at his Forest Service post in Pueblo. you have to find ways to do it more efficiently.” Hence his In the broader management of the PSICC, his duty is to database, which he can refer to from his desk. It was protect rare life that grows from the earth. Permit mostly built from his desk, using past research and other renewals will reach his desk. A continued request for an available online catalogs. overhead power line, for example. Or a new permit The project started as he had to learn about what he proposing construction, or logging, or mining, or gas and called “a whole new world.” That was Colorado oil exploration. Olson will turn to his database to see compared to the Midwest. what flora might be harmed. “Steve Olson”… continued on page 27 ►

Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 www.CoNPS.org 29 CoNPS Membership

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Total included: $ ______Check box to receive information on volunteer □ opportunities Please make check payable to: Colorado Native Plant Society DUES include the electronic version of the Aquilegia Send completed form and full remittance to: newsletter, published quarterly. CoNPS Office The 36-page, full color electronic publication arrives by PO Box 200 PDF in member email boxes in February, May, August, Fort Collins, CO 80522 and December. For those members without email addresses, please apply for a scholarship to receive print You may also join online at https://conps.org/about- copies. us/committees/join-us/

Thank you to our 2019 Annual Conference Sponsors!

30 www.CoNPS.org Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020

Can You ID these Flowers?

Wilson Anna © family.

); all in the Saxifragaceae Saxifragaceae the in all ); cernua Saxifraga ( saxifrage nodding ), rivularis Saxifraga ( saxifrage brook alpine ), crandallii

ssp. ssp. flagellaris Saxifraga ( saxifrage whiplash ), austromontana var. bronchialis Saxifraga ( saxifrage spotted ), cespitosa

Saxifraga ( saxifrage alpine tufted ), chrysantha Saxifraga ( saxifrage golden left): upper from (clockwise, Answers:

Aquilegia Volume 44 No. 3 Summer 2020 www.CoNPS.org 31 Colorado Native Plant Society P.O. Box 200 Fort Collins, Colorado 80522 http://www.conps.org

The Annual Photo Contest

and Silent Auction are online

this year. Reporters needed for the Annual Conference. See page 10 for details.

44TH Annual CoNPS Conference “Peaks to Prairies

Plants in the Land of Extremes”